This invention relates to exercise equipment and in particular to a resistance mechanism for exercise equipment that develops a unique response to actuation by the user. The resistance mechanism can be installed in a variety of different types of exercise equipment to provide a dynamic resistance that is particularly useful for sports enthusiasts who utilize exercise equipment to assist in the performance of athletic competition where speed and agility, as well as strength, are critical factors.
The recent growth in a health conscious society has generated athletic clubs that are enjoyed not only by the athletically inclined, but by ordinary individuals who wish to maintain or improve their physical well being. The new generation health club has an extraordinary variety of exercise equipment, which not only selectively exercises particular muscle structures, but does so in a generally interesting and safe manner. The recent combination of electronics with mechanics has enabled the stationary exercise equipment of the health studio to simulate the cross county bicycle race or mountain climb. Exercise at a modern health club has become an enjoyable as well as wholesome activity.
Yesterday's exercise room, which customarily only included free weights and a limited assortment of pulley connected weights, has been transformed to a modern mirror-walled facility having a cornucopia of every conceivable construction of cams, pulleys, levers, sprockets, chains, weights, and pistons, arranged into every contrivance imaginable. However, the devices constructed almost invariably are designed with the object of providing a constant or near constant resisting force over a limited linear or arcuate distance regardless of the speed of actuation. Where weights are employed, even this design objective is generally not achievable as the inertial effect of the weights enables the user to "cheat" in his exercise by swinging motions aided by the body. To control this effect, an exercise using weights, either free or connected by pulleys or cams, must be performed at a slow and steady pace. Frequently, however, the muscles that are developed are utilized in sports activities and real life endeavors in a dynamic manner that has little relationship to the motion pattern of the exercise regime. This anomaly applies to much of the equipment that attempts to duplicate its real like counterpart including rowing machines and cycles.
The primary object of the present invention is to introduce a new type of dynamic resistance mechanism that can be incorporated into exercise equipment and provide a resistance that increases upon increase in the velocity of the actuator mechanism. The actuator mechanism can be of any typical means such as a bar, hand grip, pedal, lever or other customary member positioned with respect to the user to trace a select motion to develop a particular muscle structure. The resistance mechanism in its basic configuration can operate with actuated linear or rotary motion. In a more complex structure, the resistance mechanism can operate with any planar motion and can therefore form the cornerstone of a variety of different embodiments of exercise equipment.